The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1887-10-19
was wa, constantly engaged in holding the
! Fodorals in check

was was constant y engaged in holding the
Fcderals in check
On tho occasion, during tho retreat
4, from Snlthviiln to Raleigh, the artillery
Whlch was quite n large body, MS it hnd
tup"t OF tho guns Of General Johnston,
.rmY, with 1ouch reserve ammunition
became embedded in mora3s or boo o,
| Tue road, and time was necessary to OK.
tricate 1t and corduroy the road. AIaiD,
! L. q. Barker was scnt to the rrnr To ,,s,
Stch means AZ might Do at his command
! 10 gaIh tue necessary time. The lO,h
Georgia was thcn il the extreme rear of
orr column. It was faced about and
u"pluNcd IN piece of wooded land
c.oSSlbR TITO road. Major Barker took
MS position III the front of the command
W'hout even avuiliug himself of tho
cover OF iii" large pines, which gave
some protection to tho mon Of tho ropi
mcut.
Before long the advance skrnishcrs
o' 'he cdehtl force came i'll sight. They
,N,cnGtd entirely across tho lar q omen
ilc!d III onr front and ovurlapped our
troops on both TANKS.
~ was manifest that onr position was
uhtenablc, yet Major Barker was Gent
u'cre TO mold 1t Uotll gun should indi-
ra'e lunt our artillery was once more on
inc march. Any man who look sd ut his
ci'nrcut profile and compressed lips
could read there the determine ION TO
carry ont those orders, even if we lost
our whole command. There arc nv
sorts OF pcrlIs Iii war, and various tyDes
OF courage may be seen, with soinc.iinos
conspicuous absence Of that quality.
vi ;hl trials none can exceed that of a
man who knows and realizes nix danger
yet taccs 1t firmly for duty 5 sake.
Major Barker had been twice wound
co he knew That 1t was only question
OF few moments when Tie wbistliup
nUl"tS would give trs moro music than
Mo wanted. lie knew that there vas to
he no excitement to nerve us; that we
were TOO weak to make y charge, where
Ill! sense Of danger is drowned in the
mad WnlrI OF the blood. IIc know We'll
mat II shot there our bodies, a'iyc or
dead, would !all into the bands of tn,
enemy Yet there he sat, his iiuo fucu
IoohlnF Ike carved cameo Your cor
respond; ut admits that hn was very bad
~ scared, tut What WAS 10 be done?
NOtHliE, except 10 wait and mako the
oyst Wn could Of ,nn coming unoGuul
contest, and hope for SUGGEST Our
Chances were SLIM, indeed. Ih,ir guns
could out reach ours, they wcry atuot,
81" were mounted. They had largo SUP.
ports approaching, VIC hid nour. Thry
wee olat,d with i year Of past success
We "cr" depressed with past and pres, ut
mIHl"rtnnes. 1t wa, ,ry ing timn. Yet
tntre Bhrhvr sat, incXorablc az fato aud
calm ns . monument
Prcscntiv thc fire opened and by good
luck IN" t,dclals Ovcrrhut ny. They
were uS nS long range riffs and 80 worc
t)o cioso. They cut the tree limbs over
onr heads and caused us to wlnc. with
the scream oi an occasional shell We
returned the lirI--lnd the lnc rtoppod.
We were ordered to continue to fire
rapidly SO rs tO cause Our number to b,
Ovcrcstimutud. We did sO-aud the
eft ct dceir.d was proluccd How anxi-
ously the apund Ot that gun was waited
for no man can tell. before it boom
WA heard the Federal ljnr had been re-
lafouc>d and mad ,ccommcncJd liz al-
vance. The signal came none too soon
10 save our whole command from capture
Ui from destruction.
Mahy time sNcc in thinking oger tho
events OF the wartime your correspond.
cnt las seen in lis "mmd's eye" the
ior!n OF Major Barker sitting still wait
lnG for the sound of that gun, whose
d"tonntion his living ears might never
have heard, man chained by inhrxihlc
obedience to orders to post where duty
looked squarely into the jaws Of death.
L., W ~